Cerebrovascular conditions linked to the development of psychosis in Alzheimer’s disease patients

Written by Alice Weatherston

A new study published recently in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease has identified cerebrovascular disease as a major determinant of psychosis in individuals with Alzheimer’s disease. The findings oppose some previous opinion that the mechanism underlying psychosis in Alzheimer’s patients is due to the characteristic brain deposits developed during the disease. The team, based at St Michael’s Hospital (ON, Canada), analyzed data from 1073 individuals collected from the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Centre database. In the 890 patients clinically diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease while alive, psychosis correlated with increased physical signs of the disease, including neuritic plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. In...

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